1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a process and a device for producing strip elements for the electronic protection of objects, as well as to a strip element for the electronic protection of objects, produced by means of this process.
2. Description of Related Art
Goods in department stores and warehouses are electronically protected against theft in increasing numbers. A possibility of electronic theft protection consists in attaching strip elements, i.e. elongated metal pieces of low magnetic retentivity (for example VITROVAC of the firm Vacuumschmelze), to the goods. These strip elements trigger an alarm in appropriate monitoring systems, which customarily are arranged in the exit area of the protected establishment.
The electronic protection of goods can be roughly described as follows: a monitoring system has a transmitting and a receiving device. The transmitting device transmits an interrogation signal into a monitoring zone. The strip element is induced to send out a response signal, which is detected and identified by a receiving device. The appearance of the response signal is equated to the unauthorized passage of an electronically protected article through the interrogation zone, and the alarm is triggered. An example of a corresponding monitoring system is described in European Patent EP 0 123 586 A1.
The noted strip elements are customarily available either in label form, as hard tags or as protective elements coated with plastic. The protective elements coated with plastic are packaged, for example for protecting seed packages, directly in the packages, together with the seeds.